“Am I saying anything?” She spotted Tom on his way back for his drinks, and quickly added, “See you tonight?”
“You know where I am.”
Tom glanced at Noah as he headed into the lobby. “Is it true he’s going to be working with Francie this week?”
“Probably not. I think Francie was mistaken about the details.”
Tom pulled his drink tray closer and gave her a crooked smile. “Is it true you and that one are a couple now?”
If Noah could see her now, he’d probably be back to making fun of her for blushing.
“We’re just friends,” she said, but wondered what Noah would have told someone if they asked him the same question.
“Sure you are.”
“Look, if you didn’t want my answer, why did you ask?”
He tittered and scooted away with his order.
“Bloody nosy people,” she murmured, taking Noah’s discarded glass to toss it in the dishwasher. She nearly tripped when she saw her sister standing at the other end of the bar with a poisonous look on her face.
“
Friends
?” she sneered. “Is that why Noah Hyland tore a strip off of me earlier?”
“No, he tore a strip off of you because you tried to go over his father’s head and have things your way.” Rory tucked the glass onto the rack and pushed the door shut harder than she intended. She straightened up to look at her sister. “What does it matter to you what he does?”
“Francie shook her head. “Don’t be one of those girls, Rory. Next thing you know you’ll be heading over to the mainland for an abortion.”
If ever there had been a moment when Rory could have physically hurt her sister, that was it. She could have smashed a glass and jabbed her in the throat.
Rubbing her hands together and taking deep breaths to regain her cool, Rory actually saw red as Francie walked away.
“I should have gone to work at the titty bar on the mainland,” she muttered to herself.
*****
Having changed out of her uniform, she was on her way down the path leading to the cottages when she heard her name, followed by a frantic series of honks. Noah was parked in the loading zone just a few feet away. He wasn’t in his car, but a massive black SUV.
“Where’s your little speed demon?”
“I don’t want it to get stuck in a rut, so I borrowed Dad’s Yukon. Did you bring your bathing suit?”
“I didn’t know I needed it.”
He grinned. “You’ll just have to wear your underwear, or else …”
“Don’t say it.” She laughed, thrilled at the thought of getting naked and wet with him, and jogged to the other side of the SUV. “Where do you plan on taking me that we might get stuck in a rut?”
“I’m not prepared to divulge that information yet.”
Once she was buckled up, he shifted out of park and headed down the long driveway. Rory glanced into the backseat and scowled. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“What?”
“Is that a tent?”
Unlike his car, the SUV was an automatic, and so he was free to reach out and tuck her hand in his. “You’re not going to get prissy on me, are you?”
“That depends on where you take me.”
He rolled to a stop at the main road, then leaned in. “I thought you might not want me asking you for a kiss back there.”
Rory pressed her lips to his and closed her eyes. She recognized it as a kiss that said
I missed you
, even though they had only seen one another a few hours ago. She cupped his cheek and returned it, stopping when the need for more began to burn in her chest.
“All right, I’m in your hands tonight.”
He chuckled, and Rory hoped he knew that she meant it in every sense.
As they drove through the park and then on the roadway headed East, Noah told her about his adventures working in the lobby. She teased him when he said he actually enjoyed himself working with people, but he admitted that it was probably short lived.
After about a half an hour, she fidgeted. “We’re going awfully far.”
“And there’s still about twenty minutes left.”
“Seriously?”
“Oh yeah. You’re not working tomorrow, so I figured why not?”
She met his grin with a dubious look. “Okay, now I need to know where you’re taking me.”
“Scared I’m going to chop you to pieces?”
“I wasn’t until you just came out with it without even thinking about it!” She gave him a punch in the arm. “Tell me.”
“I’m taking you to a very important piece of my history.”
“That could easily translate to the place where you bury the bodies.”
“All right, all right.” He squeezed her hand. “I bought myself a little plot of land and I thought it might be fun to spend the night there.”
Rory gawked at him. He just
bought
a plot of land? He didn’t even have a job, and he just outright bought it? She couldn’t even afford brand name instant rice and here she was riding shotgun with someone who made his first move in becoming a real estate mogul.
“What are you going to do with it?”
“I haven’t decided yet. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted it. I’m thinking maybe a summer cottage. Maybe I’ll build a few and rent them out.”
“What for? Your Dad owns a hotel. Not even just a hotel, a resort.”
“Yeah, but that’s his. Not mine. I didn’t even buy it with his money. I bought it with what my grandmother gave me for my high school graduation. Yeah, she
gave
it to me, but I’m the one that invested it and let it grow while I was in school.” He looked to her with a smile that was a mile-wide. “Okay, so I kind of liked driving the old ladies around yesterday. I liked talking to them and seeing how much fun they were having. I don’t know if I want to work at the hotel, but I think I might like to set something up out here when I’m finished school, something of my own.”
There was something in his tone that touched her. It was hard to give it a name, but it was like determination mixed with pride. He’d probably never done hard labor until a few days ago, but if she was in his position would she have spent her summers working? Probably not.
She stroked her thumb across his palm and smiled back at him. “I suppose working for yourself is a good idea, since you don’t like working for other people. And if you like it …”
“Exactly. I have two years of my program and a summer off in between. I haven’t talked to Dad yet, but I can’t think of a better person to mentor me. In the meantime …” He shook off her grip and slipped his hand on her thigh. “I’m recruiting you to help me christen the land.”
“That sounds so solemn. Now I feel bad for turning my nose up at the tent.”
“You can make it up to me.”
For the rest of the drive, chit chat was broken by short but comfortable silences. She placed her hand over his and enjoyed his company. She could have rested her head on his shoulder and drifted off into sleep with the sound of his voice surrounding her and the warmth of his body through his clothes.
“It’s up here somewhere,” he said and put all of his attention onto the road. He stopped and glanced back with a scowl. “I think I may have passed it. Damn it. I should have put a marker at the end of the driveway or something.”
This went on for ten minutes. His frustration was plain, but as Rory laughed at his repeated failures he had nothing for her but a smile.
“Are you sure we’re even on the right end of the island?” she asked, a little concerned as the bumpy road jostled her.
“I know east from west,” he growled, then barked with laughter. “Can you imagine if I did that, though? How many people would you tell?”
“Everyone--not so fast, please. I’m a little worried there’s a cliff at the end of this road.”
His arm shot out and he pointed to something on the side of the road. “There. I knew this was it. I remember those buoys hanging from that post. Right around this corner is an overturned boat that’s rotting.”
Noah sounded so excited she didn’t have the heart in her to make fun of him. Sure enough, the grey-brown remnants of an old dory appeared in the headlights. He maneuvered the SUV around until the lights hit a clearing, and then he cut the engine.
He took her hand. “Promise you won’t think me less manly for buying a pop-up tent.”
“I actually applaud that decision, because you wouldn’t get any help from me putting a tent up at this hour. We’d end up sleeping in the backseat.”
Her heart fluttered a little when he kissed her knuckles, and the sensation moved down to her stomach as they got out of the SUV. As he set up the tent, she happily unloaded the rest of the gear. He’d gone all out with sleeping pads and folding furniture, a small stove and kettle, and a load of groceries.
“You know we’re not in the middle of nowhere, right?” she joked about the amount of gear as he ran the air pump from the tent to the adapter in the car.
“Did it ever occur to you that maybe I want to keep you zipped up in the tent as long as I can tomorrow morning?”
No grinning. No laughing as her face caught fire. He leaned into the truck and hid himself from her as his words settle over her.
When the tent was in order, Noah set up the table and chairs and produced a cooler from the rear of the SUV. They listened to the radio as they fed on grocery store subs and salads, slurped tall boys, and watched the lights winking in the distance. They talked about their families, their childhoods, and their aspirations. Rory smiled as he thought out loud about his plans for this pretty little spot he had bought. He wanted to live here. He wanted to work here. Overnight he had gone from a terrible student to a man with a plan – cottages and a cafe, an ice cream stand and boat rentals, and on and on he built this dream before her eyes.
“What about you?” he asked suddenly. “What do you want?”
She shook her head. “I just want to go be able to pay the bills and have a little left over for some fun.”
“You must want more than that.”
“Well, yeah, I’d like to be fantastically wealthy, but I’d settle for a little bit of what’s my own.” She paused, squirming a little under his dubious gaze. “Okay, so maybe I’d like to travel a little. I’ve never been anywhere, except for school trips. I’m not talking about lying on a beach in Mexico, or even somewhere exotic.”
He leaned forward in his seat, grinning as he clutched his beer in both hands. “Where would you want to go? If a plane landed here right now and offered to take you anywhere, where would that be?”
“Oooh, I think my first stop would be Iceland,” she said, and laughed as he raised a questioning brow. “I saw a movie a few years ago that was set in Iceland. I want to go to Iceland and drive down a country road and see those little ponies they have.”
“Ponies,” he said, laughing, and took a sip of his beer. “You are a funny woman, Rory. Hey, what is that short for, anyway?”
Rory shook her head, embarrassed. “I’m not telling you.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s … silly.”
“Tell me.” He narrowed his eyes and set his beer aside. “Tell me, or else I’ll toss you on the ground and tickle it out of you.”
“No, I’ll tell you,” she said with a growl and closed her eyes. “It’s Aurora.”
“Like, on
Star Trek
?”
“No, that’s … I don’t know what her name is, but not like on
Star Trek
. Like the Disney princess.
Sleeping Beauty
?” He shook his head, and Rory sagged back in her chair to tell the tale of her naming. “When Francie was little, my Mom took her to see the movie. She was pregnant with me. She was going to name me Donna-- Francie is named for my father’s mother, so Mom was going to name me for her mother. Then she saw this movie and the name of the princess was Aurora. So, here I am. Rory.”
Noah chuckled. “Princess Rory. I like it.”
It was nearly one o’clock by the time they cleaned up. He took her hand her heart leapt into her throat. She was ready. No, more than ready to climb into the tent with him and let every urge she had unfold in the darkness, but instead he dragged her away from the site. “Time for a swim.”
Flashlight in hand, he led the way.
“Is there even a path?” she asked.
“There’s a path. Trust me. Just follow me.” He glanced over his shoulder and she caught his smile in the silver light of the moon. “You did say you were in my hands tonight.”
“I know, but …”
There was no but. He led, and she was happy to follow him along the grassy path and down the slope onto the beach. Once they were on the sand, Noah cut the light and turned. As he pulled her into his arms, Rory wrapped her arms around his neck and welcomed his hard body against hers.
“I’ve been planning this in my head since I bandaged your leg,” he said quietly as he slid his hands down her back to her ass. “I know you still think I’m only out for one thing, but I’m not. Well, that’s not the only thing.”
“What are you out for?” she whispered, and stood on her toes until they were nose to nose and his mouth hovered over hers.
“Just … this.”
This.
She didn’t need to ask what he meant. She felt it, too. Her life could be frustrating but she had never considered it hard. It never occurred to her that she needed a place to get away to, and yet she found it here under the stars with Noah. She was suddenly so full of
this
that she tugged at him, desperate to have him as close as possible.
He resisted, and she could have screamed as he released her, but he reached between them and tugged her shirt from her shorts. Trembling, she let him undress her down to her panties, and when he was done she did the same for him. His erection tented the front of his swim trunks as he led her to the water.
“Oh--oh, shit!” He darted back after dipping only a toe. “That’s pretty fucking cold.”
She waded in to her knees and turned back to him. “You get used to it. I thought you used to do this all the time.”
“I did, but I was clearly more pickled than I remember.” Noah crossed his arms over his chest and did a little dance. “My feet are actually in pain, they’re so cold.”
“Well, I’m not coming out,” she said, and turned her back on him. A wicked thought came to her. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure she had his attention, then did a little wiggle as she did away with her panties.